Asthma and Allergies

Asthma is an allergic condition and the number one chronic respiratory disease affecting children in the Western world today. The prevalence of asthma in Western countries has doubled since 1980. Between 1964 and 1980 there was a 50 percent increase in asthma among children aged six to eleven years. A 52 percent increase was seen for persons five to thirty-four years old between 1982 and 1992, and asthma-related deaths increased 42%.

According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, in the United States:

Asthma affects nearly five million children younger than eighteen years of age.

An estimated 1.3 million children younger than five years have asthma.

50 – 80% of children with asthma develop symptoms before the age of five years.

Children with asthma miss a lot of school: ten million absences per year.

Children with asthma account for 2.7 million physician visits per year and require 200,000 hospitalizations.

The annual cost for treating asthma in children is estimated at $1.9 billion.

People who have asthma experience recurrent attacks of shortness of breath, cough, wheezing, and production of thick mucus. These symptoms are caused by spasms of the airway tubes and swelling of the mucous lining of the lungs. Asthma can be triggered by an allergic reaction (to grass or dog hair, for example) or by factors such as an infection, exercise, or toxic chemicals. Asthma can lead to respiratory failure and death.

Asthma and allergies can be caused by several different factors working together, including air pollution, smoking, a weakened immune system, food additives, genetically engineered foods, and a poorly functioning gastrointestinal system. Some experts are adding vaccinations to this list, as there is increasing evidence that the vaccines themselves, or the fact that they prevent children from developing natural immunity to a disease, are triggering asthma in children.

Lack of Disease Triggers Asthma

It may sound strange, but some experts believe that not getting specific diseases (that is, receiving vaccines which then prevent children from getting certain contagious diseases during early childhood) may trigger the development of asthma and allergies. In 1996, for example, British and Danish researchers compared two groups of people aged fourteen to twenty-one in West Africa. One group consisted of people who had not been vaccinated against measles and who had recovered from a 1979 measles epidemic (the vaccines was not available at the time of the epidemic). The second group consisted of people who did not have measles as children and who were vaccinated later.

About 26% of the vaccinated young adults had allergic conditions compared with only 13% of those who had recovered naturally from measles and were not vaccinated. The researchers concluded that having had the measles prevents allergic sensitivity. At the same time, scientists realize that a measles epidemic has risks as well.

But do cases in Africa translate to conditions in the United States and other developed countries? In 1998 investigators looked at cases of asthma and other allergic conditions in children throughout Western Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand and found that these countries have higher incidence of asthma than poorer countries in Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe. One difference between developing countries and industrialized countries is the very high vaccination rate among the latter. Naturally, there are other differences that could have an impact on the rise in asthma cases, such as air pollution and second-hand smoke. However, studies that compare vaccinated with unvaccinated children show dramatic differences in the number of those who get asthma and allergies.

For example, a study in New Zealand published in 1997 concluded that there may be some component of vaccinations for infants that increases the risk of developing asthma. The researchers at 1,265 New Zealanders born in 1977. All but 23 had received childhood vaccinations, including polio and DTP. None of the 23 nonvaccinated individuals had childhood asthma, while 23.1% of the 1,242 who were vaccinated had asthmatic episodes and 30% had consultations for other allergy-related conditions.

A study published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics (March 2000) compared vaccinated with nonvaccinated children and found that those who received DTP or tetanus shots were 50% more likely to develop severe allergic reactions, twice as likely to have asthma, and more than 80% more likely to have sinusitis (swelling of the lining of the sinuses) than those not vaccinated. The authors concluded that “asthma and other allergic hypersensitivity reactions and related symptoms may be caused, in party, by delayed effects of DTP or tetanus vaccinations.”

In a British study published in 1994, the researchers looked at 446 children: 243 who had received the pertussis vaccine and 203 who had not. Among the immunized children, nearly 11% had been diagnosed with asthma, compared with less than 2% of those who had not received the pertussis vaccine.

Although these studies do not prove conclusively that vaccines play a role in asthma and allergies, the evidence is compelling. Further research may soon uncover the truth behind this relationship.